Reinforcement in the Classroom

[Jalen Causey]

I don’t see that many different types of reinforcements in the class, the most common is how a teacher verbally responds to a student. For example, if the students are being particularly talkative, then the teacher is will tell them they are being too loud and they need to quiet down. If there is a need to give another reinforcement (which typically there is, but I’ve only observed a maximum number of three after the initial redirection), then each time the teacher will become a bit more direct, going from “It’s too loud in here” to “You all need to bring down the volume” to removing the privilege of working with a partner or small group they have been given: “You all need to quiet down or you all will have to work independently.” In light of what we discussed in class, with one of the most salient points being that it works, her reinforcements worked. Ultimately, the students would be quieter while working as a means of maintaining their groupings. They still talked, but also worked.

Relating cognitivism directly to my classroom, I think it has a very interesting relationship between that and math. There are certain things that in both my understanding of math and this classroom’s leaching/learning of math, it’s kind of hard to only have those students construct knowledge of the topic. They don’t know how variables work and how they work with constants – so there’s a degree “you have to take what I’m saying as fact.” After we all have that base knowledge afterward, then we can help facilitate explicit links between those pieces of knowledge frames, scripts, events that the information has been consolidated within.

 

But also, I’ve seen so much of the “building upon prior knowledge” because that’s how algebra works. We start off with learning what variables are, then the distributive property, then combining them together and using them both in order to solve this problem set in front of you. We started with simplifying expressions, then used that knowledge to move to two-step equations, and now we’ve built upon that and we’re at multistep equations now. In that aspect of learning constructivist-like, I think the method has worked amazingly and works amazingly for the class.

 

With all of that being said, I’m still a cognitivist at heart. One of the most important things for me is understanding that the ability, or lack thereof, to produce is not equal to a student’s knowledge level. Not only that, but I think everyone has a naturally inquisitive side and has a desire to learn. Nurturing that will allow for a more independent and more explorative student. And I think that’s what the ultimate goal of a teacher is – to give their students the tools necessary to go out into the world and experience life. Constructivism can both teach specific, tangible skills, such as math, reading, writing, researching, while also cultivating analytical and observational skills that their students can take into the world with them.

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